The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

By Chris Gates | The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

If there were questions about what version of T.J. Watt the Pittsburgh Steelers would get in 2026, he provided a pretty emphatic answer in Week 1.

Watt was everywhere in the Steelers’ 20-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, finishing with four tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, a pass defended and, most importantly, a pick-six.

It was the type of game-changing performance Steelers fans have grown accustomed to seeing from Watt throughout his career.

And after a 2025 season in which his production dipped and questions inevitably followed, it was quite the way to reintroduce himself.

A Different Version of Watt Than We Saw in 2025

There was plenty of conversation throughout the offseason about Watt’s 2025 season and whether his decline in production was something to worry about moving forward.

Some of those questions were reasonable. Watt didn’t impact games with the same consistency we’ve come to expect.

But the context matters, too.

Watt dealt with significant health issues last season, including a punctured lung. That’s not exactly an insignificant obstacle to overcome.

Now healthy and playing in a new defense under coordinator Patrick Graham, Watt immediately looked much more like the disruptive player who has defined Steelers football for much of his career.

And Pittsburgh needed every bit of it Sunday.

The Steelers’ offense scored just one touchdown against Atlanta. Watt scored another one himself.

Take his pick-six off the board and we’re potentially having a very different conversation about Pittsburgh’s season opener.

Instead, the Steelers are 1-0, and Watt was arguably the biggest reason why.

Patrick Graham Is Moving Watt Around

Perhaps the most interesting part of Watt’s performance wasn’t simply the production.

It was how Pittsburgh used him.

Under Graham, Watt isn’t just lining up in the same place snap after snap and allowing an opposing offense to build its protection plan around knowing where No. 90 will be.

The Steelers moved him around.

Watt took snaps from both sides of the defensive front, creating considerably more variation in his alignment than we’ve traditionally seen throughout his career.

That matters.

For years, opposing teams have known exactly where Watt was going to be. They could structure protections around him, dedicate a particular offensive tackle to preparing for him and consistently provide help to his side.

Not that those adjustments by opponents were particularly effective — let’s be honest, TJ Watt has don’t a phenomenal job of disrupting the opposing game plan.

But moving Watt around creates another layer for an offense to process, and requires more time and attention (and creates more confusion).

Now both tackles potentially have to prepare for him. Protections have to account for where he is before the snap. Pittsburgh can create different matchups and potentially find opportunities to prevent an offense from constantly throwing extra resources toward Watt.

It’s only one game, so we don’t yet know exactly how extensive that wrinkle will become.

But the first look was certainly encouraging.

The Steelers’ Defensive Front Controlled Atlanta

Watt’s performance was the headline, but he wasn’t operating alone.

Pittsburgh’s defensive front controlled the game.

The Steelers entered Week 1 knowing the Falcons’ offense revolved around Bijan Robinson, particularly after injuries forced Atlanta down to Cooper Rush at quarterback.

That made the assignment relatively straightforward: contain Robinson on the ground, put the game in Rush’s hands and create enough pressure and confusion to force him into mistakes.

That’s exactly what Pittsburgh did.

Robinson finished with 83 rushing yards on 21 carries, averaging just four yards per attempt. He remained dangerous as a receiver, catching eight passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, but Pittsburgh prevented Atlanta from consistently establishing its offense on the ground.

Rush threw for only 143 yards and was intercepted twice.

Watt provided one of those interceptions himself, getting his hands into the passing lane, securing the football and taking it back for a touchdown.

Cam Heyward also repeatedly disrupted passing lanes, batting down three passes.

Whether it was something Pittsburgh specifically identified about Rush or simply an emphasis within the defensive game plan, the Steelers consistently made it difficult for Atlanta to get the football through the line of scrimmage.

The result was exactly what Pittsburgh needed.

This Is the T.J. Watt the Steelers Need

One performance doesn’t answer every question.

The circumstances of this game matter.

Atlanta was playing its third-string quarterback, and the Steelers will certainly face considerably more difficult challenges as the season progresses, beginning with Drake Maye and the New England Patriots in Week 2.

But there was something significant about the way Watt played Sunday.

This wasn’t a game where he simply picked up a sack and otherwise disappeared.

He changed the game.

• He rushed the passer.
• He made plays behind the line of scrimmage.
• He affected the passing game.
• He scored six points himself.

That’s the version of Watt who can fundamentally alter what an opponent wants to do offensively.

And if Graham’s new defense can create more opportunities for Watt by moving him around and making it harder for opposing offenses to consistently dedicate resources toward stopping him, his Week 1 performance could be more than just an isolated big game.

It could be our first look at what a fully healthy T.J. Watt can become in this new Steelers defense.

There will be much tougher tests ahead.

But after one week, one thing is clear: T.J. Watt looks capable of being a game-wrecking force again.

And in Pittsburgh’s first win of the Mike McCarthy era, nobody made a bigger difference.